3.4 evaluate the effectiveness of agencies in achieving social control Flashcards
(11 cards)
Agencies involved in effectiveness of achieving social control.
Police, judicial system, prisons, probation, and charities and pressure groups.
The effectiveness of police in achieving social control.
- Clear evidence suggesting that the police have increased their effectiveness with crime that causes public concern.
- 2017, evidence suggested that there was greater satisfaction towards the police dealing with domestic abuse.
- However staff sausages are causing slower response rates, which means in some cases the police could be less effective in achieving social control.
Police and their current trends in solving crime. (Social control).
- inadequacies in funding may lead to cases not being prioritised, not being investigated, or being completely dropped.
- Overall crime rates are increasing e.g knife crimes rose from 24,000 to 40,000 by 2018, alongside this, the lack of funding means there is less police officers and a need to prioritise some cases over others.
Could be seen as not being effective in achieving social control, as approximately only one third of 2 million cases reported in 2014 to 2016
Were investigated.
The police and accuracy of evidence.
- it is possible that crime rates only appear to have increased due to the police improving the way they record crime and investigations.
Other criticisms of the police.
Racism and bias
- reports into the 1999 murder of Stephen Lawrence claimed that institutional racism hindered the effectiveness of the place, since then, forces have attempted to address the under representation of ethnic minority officers, through recruitment changes.
-However minority group still face stereotypes and prejudice.
Effectiveness of the judiciary system.
Bias = most judges are presented as old, white, male, and privileged. Gender bias is also an issue as in 1989, Judge James pickle was criticised for unfairly prosecuting people, after sentencing a man to probation after sexually assaulting a six year-old.
- bias characteristics of judges are also likely to make them out of touch with society, which hinders how offenders and family members may be affected by decisions.
Lenient judges = that is some evidence to suggest that judges are too lenient when sentencing offenders, in 2017, 173 cases were referred to appeal, after public appeal believed sentence was too lenient, out of the 173, 137 had sentences increased.
Effectiveness of prisons in achieving social control.
- many officers clean at they struggle to control inmates, reasons for this within prisons may include:
- staff cuts = limited ability to manage inmates.
- overcrowding = in 2018, 58% of prisons were struggling with overcrowding.
- ineffective rehab = people serving short sentences are not able to participate in rehab rehabilitation.
- drug issues = in 2016, there was 64 inmate deaths caused by drugs, despite drug testing, drug issues still occur.
- security = 2018, 8,400 assaults on members of staff and 22,000 incidents of drug smuggling mix
- disorder = staff shortages can lead to prison riots and escape attempts.
Summary of prisons and effectiveness in achieving social control.
Prisons are not effective achieving social control whilst offenders are in prison.
Prisons are also ineffective about rehabilitating prisoners for life outside of prison.
Outside of prison, reoffending rates are very high, meaning rehabilitation objectives of the police are not effectively met .
Effectiveness at probation in achieving social control.
Privatisation = 21 Private companies (rehab companies) were set up throughout the UK to deal with low risk offenders, created by the conservative government to reduce reoffending.
However, 19 of the 21 companies failed to meet their target and costed the government over £300 million in expenses and ineffectively rehabilitated offenders, as well as keeping victims safe from offenders that were released.
Probation effectiveness.
(Example conclusion).
Overall rehabilitation companies created through privatisation ad deemed ineffective and no longer in operation.
On the other hand, the national probation service is more successful, however this service is still limited by shortages of probation officers and programs to assist with causes of offending.
The effectiveness of charities and pressure groups.
Commitment = charities are often successful at reducing reoffending rates because they focus on one group I wanna issue. E.g NARCO, and their campaign for ending the Friday release of prisoners as weekend access to support is limited for them.
Women in prison = a pressure group that contains to reduce the number of women in prison, 84% of women’s sentences are for nonviolent crimes such as TV license crimes, therefore WIP aim to make court use prisoners loss result for women.
Gaps in provision = charities and pressure groups only exist where people are concerned about a group or an issue, people then volunteer to campaign on the specific issue. An example of this is social media, social media can be used to be sympathetic towards victims and demonise certain offenders, this can be either beneficial or beneficial for charities and pressure groups
